McVay fourth-grade teacher Katherine Wesche leads students in a
“strike” in front of the school, demanding administration give more
ice cream to teachers and students.

Mitch Melberg • Williston Herald

McVay fourth-grade students participate in a “strike” in front
of the school on Tuesday morning as part of a lesson on Caesar
Chavez and the workers movement.

Mitch Melberg • Williston Herald

Brenner was involved in tense negotiations with McVay
fourth-graders, who went on strike demanding more ice cream for
teachers and students.

Photos by Mitch Melberg • Williston Herald

After a short standoff, Principal Tonya Brenner and McVay
fourth-graders reached an agreement to end the students’ strike,
giving each fourth-grader and their teachers ice cream sandwiches
before they returned to class.

Classes ground to a halt at McVay Elementary on Tuesday morning, as fourth grade students took to the streets, going on strike until their demands were met. Those demand? More ice cream.

Katherine Wesche, fourth grade teacher at McVay, led the student revolt on the morning of Tuesday, Sep. 3, as part of a lesson on Caesar Chavez and the worker’s movement. Wesche said she and her class read about Chavez and learned some of the terminology associated with the movement, such as boycott, union and strike. In order to make the lesson a bit more hands-on, Wesche and the other fourth graders took part in a mock strike, marching with hand-made sides along the sidewalk in front of the school, demanding that administration give more ice cream to the protesters.

With chants of “We want more ice cream” filling the air, students marched and waved their signs until Principal Tonya Brenner agreed to meet with the mob, engaging in negotiations with the group’s leadership. After a few minutes of back and forth, Brenner retreated inside to discuss the group’s demands, which Wesche said included “ice cream twice a day.” The students said they were deserving of ice cream because they had been working hard, had performed well, and quite simply...because it was hot.

Brenner returned shortly after, with boxes of ice cream sandwiches in hand. While not twice a day, the students were able to negotiate for ice cream for themselves and their teachers, and peacefully returned to their classrooms, triumphant and ready fo the rest of the day’s lessons.

Williams_county

Deadbeat, rude campers forcing changes to Williams County campgrounds

By Renée Jean
rjean@willistonherald.com

09.03.19

There will be big changes coming to the way Williams County is managing its campgrounds, after several incidents this summer highlighted the need for enforcement of what had been largely an “on your honor” system, managed by volunteer camp hosts.

Better than half of the campers at Blacktail Dam did not pay the required fee in any given week, according to Rogene Ralph, who served as a volunteer camp host for the Blacktail Dam campsite this past summer. She was present at the Tuesday, Sept. 3, Park Board meeting to talk about several incidents that occurred at the campground during the past summer.

Among these, an oilfield company brought in a large barbecue grill and camper, serving several hundred meals out of it. Rather than placing it in an approved location, however, the employees drove it over a playground area, removed various equipment that was in their way, and took over that area in a way such that children could no longer play in it.

Ralph said some of the employees were also housing their dogs inside restrooms, and that the dogs left a mess for Ralph and her husband to clean up. A company official later called the Ralphs to apologize, and offered to send her money for her trouble.

“I don’t want money,” Ralph told commissioners. “But I told them they need to pay the county for the destruction they did with that thing in there for a week.”

Rogene Ralph

“I don’t want money. But I told them they need to pay the county for the destruction they did with that thing in there for a week.”

— Rogene Ralph

Williams County Commissioners Cory Hanson and Beau Anderson both agreed that sounded like a fine idea. They asked Ralph to prepare a detailed list of the damage done, as well as the time she and her husband Donnie had to spend cleaning up after the company.

“I have the address for (the company),” Hanson said, “and we should send them the bill. If it doesn’t cost someone money, they don’t take it seriously.”

Ralph also had to call Anderson to the campground to talk with a couple of campers who had violated several rules and were particularly rude and combative with her.

That didn’t solve the problem, however. Right after Anderson had left, one of the campers said to her, “You effing b, you lost this round,” Ralph told commissioners.

He then had a large and noisy party that night. The next day, when he saw her outside of her camper, he said to her, “Fat ass, get back in your camper.”

The individuals also brought in six labradors, Ralph said, and essentially gave them the run of the park.

“I called the sheriff, but he said no laws were broken, and that we had rented that spot to them,” she said. “I rented them a $15 spot, and they also threw fireworks at our camper. It was horrible.”

Ralph said she ripped out a sign identifying her camper as camp host, and said she was no longer the camp hostess. She also indicated that Cory Paryzek, who was formerly the parks and recreation superintendent, also said he was done.

Commissioners accepted Paryzek’s resignation at a commission meeting in August.

“I’m ashamed that people would treat you that way,” Anderson said.

He said the county would get a leash law in place, as well as review what needs to be done to remove those who are either not paying their fee, or refusing to follow the campground’s rules.

Ralph also recommended better signage, in particular to restrict boats from using the campground road to get to the boat ramp.

The campground route is shorter than the paved road to the boat ramp, but a portion of it is also gravel. Since many of those hauling boats via that route are also not following the 15 mph speed limit, they are spraying campers and RVs with dust and rocks.

“A child had a hot wheel or big wheel out there and this boat came through there and smashed the bike to pieces,” Ralph said.

Ralph said when she tells people there is a fee to stay in the campground some of them have told her they didn’t have to pay last year, or that they don’t have to pay if they are not present, even if their camper is.

Then they just don’t pay, even though she has informed them that they are supposed to.

“We had a gentleman from Williston who came out and parked his motor home on 1, 2, 3 and 4,” she said. “I went over and said are you going to pay for those spots? And he said no, there’s no one out here.”

The man even put up a fence around his camper for his three dogs, and stayed for two weeks without paying.

Another group from Trenton who refused to pay asked Ralph if she knew who their dad was.

A third individual from Plentywood, who also didn’t pay, said he was just bringing his dogs there to clean up in the river.

“It’s not a river, it’s a dam, I told him,” Ralph said.

She also told the man all the dogs need to be on a leash at all times. But the next morning, Ralph was awakened by several dogs scratching on her camper door, all of which she said belonged to the Plentywood man.

“People keep taking the dogs over to the swimming area that we clean,” she said. “They let their dogs run into the water and go to the bathroom while the kids are swimming there. There used to be some signs there. I don’t know what happened to all of them.”

Commissioners asked Ralph to make a detailed list of all the problems, and said they would work through the winter on adjusting existing rules and processes to improve the situation for camp hosts there and at all the county’s campgrounds.

Also in progress, is hiring a new park superintendent. The park board unanimously passed a recommendation that the position become a full-time, year-round position.

Williams County Commissioner Steven Kemp, meanwhile, recommended that the individual be charged with developing winter-time recreational opportunities, pointing out there are many opportunities for that in North Dakota.

The senior quarterback passed for 206 yards and three touchdowns
en route to a 41-0 victory against Watford City in the Coyotes
season opener on Friday, Aug. 30

On Thursday, Aug. 29, the Williston sophomore cross country
runner took first at the Bowman County Invite, clocking in with a
time of 19:08.93 and helping the Coyotes to a top overall
placing.

Public_safety

Police ID semi driver killed Monday in McKenzie County

09.03.19

A 52-year-old man was killed Monday, Sept. 2, when the tractor-trailer he was driving jackknifed and rolled.

Police identified the driver as James Nolf, of Alexander. He was driving west on County Road 2 in McKenzie County when he failed to negotiate a curve in the road, according the the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

The 2015 Kenworth Nolf was driving went into the north ditch. The semi itself rolled over into its cab and the tanker trailer it was carrying jackknifed, police said.

The road was wet from rain and the surface was slippery at the time of the crash, the Highway Patrol noted in a news release.

Nolf was pronounced dead on the scene on the crash. Police are still investigating.

Business

featured

Best of the Bakken celebration coming this month

09.03.19

For the third year, the Williston Herald is hosting an awards celebration for the winners of our Best of the Bakken readers’ choice competition.

This year’s celebration is a little different, though. Here are some things you should know about this year’s Best of the Bakken celebration.

1. It’s a real awards ceremony.

For the first time, Best of the Bakken is getting the full-on awards show treatment. That means winners won’t know they’ve won until the ceremony itself, making the surprise real.

“We wanted to try something different, something to make Best of the Bakken into a major event,” Herald Publisher Kelly Miller said. “Treating it like an awards show, complete with surprise from the winners, made a lot of sense.”

2. The number of votes went up — again.

With dozens of categories and even more businesses nominated in the first place, there were a lot of reasons for people to cast a vote online, and plenty of them did just that. This year, more than 43,000 votes were cast. That compares to about 30,000 votes last year and about 15,000 the year before.

3. It’s mostly local, but plenty of people got in on the voting action.

Of the thousands of people who cast votes for The Best of the Bakken, the vast majority were from right here in Williston. But because it’s an online vote, they weren’t the only ones. Some votes came from all around the United States, including from Alaska. Other came from Mexico, the Middle East and Europe.

4. There’s still time to get a ticket.

The Best of the Bakken celebration is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12 at the Grand Williston Hotel. A cocktail hour is set for 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., with dinner to follow at 6:45 p.m. and awards following that. Tickets are $35 and can be ordered online at https://www.willistonherald.com/site/forms/best-of-bakken-event/ or by calling 701-572-2165.